‘Mario’ and ‘Legend of Zelda’ Creator Shigeru Miyamoto Blames Tablets for Wii U’s Failure

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and The Legend of Zelda, spoke out regarding the market failure of Nintendo’s Wii U console, blaming the proliferation of tablets for the console’s failure.

The company has only sold 9.5 million Wii U’s since its release two-and-a-half years ago, a figure which Sony’s PlayStation 4 beat in nine months.

The developer stated that he thought “the assumption is we were trying to create a game machine and a tablet and really what we were trying to do was create a game system that gave you tablet-like functionality for controlling that system and give you two screens that would allow different people in the living room to play in different ways.”

But Miyamoto suggested that increased progress with tablets at the time of the Wii U’s release made Nintendo’s product less unique, hinting that he thought the company’s next console, the NX, would renew consumer excitement.

Addressing his involvement with the NX compared to the previous systems, Miyamoto stated, “I’ve pulled myself back out of some of the hardware section and I’m really focused on some of the software that I’m involved in—for example, the new Starfox game. Of course I am observing and looking at the hardware, but I am not actively participating and making decisions.”

Nintendo’s new NX console will not be released until 2016 or later.

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